This year’s Cup Series comprises 36 point-paying races, of which six of them are on non-ovals.
To date, van Gisbergen has won three of the four at Mexico City, Chicago, and Sonoma. He missed out on victory at COTA due to an ill-handling car.
His three wins came in the space of five weeks. In the case of Chicago and Sonoma, they were back-to-back.
That prompted criticism from current drivers, including Brad Keselowski who took to X to vent his frustration at the proliferation of road course racing.
“We went from two to six road course races, possibly seven next year,” the popular Ford driver wrote.
“NASCAR was successfully built as a primarily oval racing series. IMSA was built as the primary road course series in North America.
“IMSA will always do road racing better than NASCAR and that’s ok. Yes, TOO Many Road courses in NASCAR.”
On his podcast Action Detrimental, Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin said: “I’m not a road course fan. I still believe we have too many of them on the schedule.”
Van Gisbergen said NASCAR has a “good amount” of road courses but “having the two in a row was probably a bit much” after successive wins.
“I love the variety of the series,” he said.
“You never do two intermediates in a row or two superspeedways. It seems like every week it’s a different type of track.
“Doing two road courses in a row was probably a rare thing. If they’re more spread out, I think that would be a better feel.”
Asked whether NASCAR should be visiting Formula 1 venues like COTA or Mexico City, van Gisbergen said there were better options.
“There are plenty of cool tracks here – Laguna Seca or Road America,” he explained.
“It does look pretty stupid at COTA when we’re off the track more than we’re on it.
“It just looks silly.”
The comments come on the eve of NASCAR’s annual visit to Watkins Glen where van Gisbergen is the short-priced favourite.
It’s another opportunity for someone to book themselves a spot in the Playoffs and move the cutoff line.
Chris Buescher is the first driver above the line while his RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece is the first driver below the line.
Speaking about the Playoffs, van Gisbergen said he has warmed to the concept.
His team, Trackhouse Racing, has been criticised for effectively gaming the system by employing a road course specialist.
However, SVG said he would be fascinated to see how fans would react to Brad Keselowski winning, considering until recently he was only 24th in the points and currently sits 19th.
“That’s the reason I’m here, right? And it’s worked out well,” he said of his road course success.
“I think it’s cool. Obviously my championship position is running now, but when I first won the race I was 32nd or something, so I can see why.
“I really want Brad Keselowski to win a race, because he was like 30th as well at the time and it would have been interesting to see what people thought about that because he’s a champion.
“He could run pretty deep in the Playoffs. I really like the dynamic it brings now, especially with Bubba [Wallace] winning.
“There are some guys on the bubble and some good guys who are desperate for a win.
“I think it makes the racing much more exciting like those guys doing a Hail Mary. I think it’s pretty cool, the pressure it brings in. Because like I said, it changes your year.
“I can see both sides of it. The one-race deal, that’s another thing, for the championship, but to get in the Playoffs, the top 16, that’s a lot of drivers fighting for a championship. I think that’s pretty cool.”
Van Gisbergen will do double duty at Watkins Glen, competing in the Xfinity Series on Sunday (AEST) and the Cup Series on Monday (AEST).
Get the latest NASCAR news, stats and betting insights at MotorRacing.com
Discussion about this post